Whoever left the empty bottles suspended by string from the attic of the prison about 45 years ago was very keen on beer and whisky and loved a Gordon’s gin.
The bottles, along with cans of the Watties brand Leopard Lager — which had to be opened with a can opener — have been discovered at the former prison suspended by string inside the wall cavities that can be accessed from the attic.
They were found with newspapers from the 1960s and 1970s in an area that was used for storage, sited in the roof above the former offices of the city’s police.
Dunedin Prison Trust chairman Owen Graham said his first thoughts about the find were the bottles might have been lowered to prisoners in cells, and perhaps accessed through ventilation openings.
Volunteer Peter Caswell said the bottles, as well as empty packets of Pall Mall and Rothmans cigarettes, and boxes of Melrose tobacco, were found behind the walls during working bees at the prison.
His assumption was it was the secret stash of prisoners who worked in the attic and were keen on "having a swig", though "we don’t know".
Ken Burt worked at the Dunedin Prison for 28 years as a Corrections officer, starting in 1979, and has been a tour guide since it closed.
Mr Burt said he understood the collection of bottles was probably the work of police staff, whether administration or sworn staff.
He said it "definitely" wasn’t a member of Corrections staff.
"Prison staff would have only been up there after police moved out, and I think those bottles are older than that."
Mr Burt said they would have been hung down the walls by "a sly grogger".
"They’d have a drink and then put them back down the wall, then they’d just leave them there, because they wouldn’t have got them out of the building without being seen," Mr Burt said.
He said it was probably hard getting them into the building in the first place, unless they were either stored there, taken off prisoners or taken during arrests.
Mr Graham said the bottles and newspapers helped the trust understand what was happening in the prison "outside the normal regime of being a prisoner and the routine the prison required of prisoners".
It was "a nice little story to add to the picture of the prison and life here".
Major restoration work on the prison is expected to start this year.
